Make Your Own Paradise Garden

Krishna being Welcomed by Radha

At the Hatton Gallery we have some beautiful Indian Paintings from Rajasthan. They were painted in the 1830’s and are known as Indian Miniatures. They were collected by Professor Hatton, who the gallery is named after. 

Krishna being Welcomed by Radha

This painting shows the god Krishna from  Hinduism being greeted by Radha into her house and courtyard. Can you see the pond at the front of the painting and the beautiful leaves and shrubs in the background? 

  • Make a poem about this scene or, you could list all of the things in the painting and make small sketches of them.                                                     

Lady in a Garden

Lady in a Garden

This painting shows two women sitting outside in a garden. The garden has a beautifully decorated low wall around it. In the foreground are rows of plants. In the background are tall poplar trees, shrubs and more plants. The pavilion they are sitting outside of is beautiful with painted panels and a red canopy above.

  • What a beautiful place to be. Can you create a story about this?

​Surya on his Chariot

Surya on his Chariot   

This painting has no gardens in it - but what a beautiful painting it is. It shows the Sun God Surya in his chariot as he is driven across the sky.

  • How many horses are in this painting? Tip: a good way of working this out is to count the pairs of ears.
  • Can you try to draw a horse like this? Start with a basic body shaped like a cylinder, then add the curved neck and head, then the legs.
  • You could write a story about the chariot - where they are flying and what they can see beneath them on earth

Get creative and make your own

You will need: 

  • White paper to draw on
  • Pieces of colourful patterned paper cut from wrapping paper or magazines    
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Coloured pencils or paint

Look at these pictures of Indian gardens from the Amber Palace in Jaipur, India for inspiration before you begin.

         

What are the key things you can see? Look at this plan below for an Indian Garden. A plan is drawn from above as if you were a bird flying over it. It is sometimes called a bird’s eye view. 

Can you see it has flower beds and water channels in the middle of the garden? The other squares labelled A, B, C and D are all flower beds with different coloured plants in them. It has a meeting house or a pavilion at the top


To create your garden: 

  1. Remember, you are drawing it as if you are looking down on it from above.
  2. Draw a path down the middle and another one straight across.
  3. Draw rectangles and squares which will be the flower beds.
  4. In the middle you could draw a fountain.
  5. You can draw streams running through it.
  6. You could draw a meeting house or pavilion at one end or even in the middle.
  7. Colour the flower beds or stick patterned paper on them, carefully keeping to the shape of the bed
  8. When you have finished drawing your basic garden plan get a separate piece of paper and draw trees, plants, fences, fountains. Remember: make sure you draw a little tab on the bottom of each item that you draw as this will make it stand up. 


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